In the prior art it has been necessary to mount snow plows on trucks under very adverse conditions. Often there is sleet, snow, or rain, and blowing winds.
Some find it necessary, in an emergency, to mount snow blades on trucks while they still have good business clothes on. The problem is made greater by the great weight of a plow, necessitating the movement of a truck up to a plow. And greater yet because the truck must be aligned perfectly with the plow so as to pass attaching pins through confined openings in the plow supporting frame and in the truck mounting brackets which are attached to a truck for supporting the plow.
Much valuable time is consumed and much frustration is experienced as the truck is either too high or too low, too far to the left, or too far to the right, or out of alignment, both vertically and horizontally at the same time.
Another problem is the unevenness of the ground.
All these problems cause the operator to need to get out of the truck quite often to adjust the positioning of the blade mounting frame.
In addition to the need to go in and out of the truck, the blade itself is very heavy so that many who would like to mount a snow blade cannot physically accomplish the task.
An object hereof is to provide a snow plow alignment system which comprises a wheeled carrier for the snow plow, permitting the operator to align the plow up with respect to the truck, eliminating the need to align the truck up with respect to the snow plow.
Another object is to provide a system for vertical adjustment, using a jack supported by the snow plow carrier.
Another object is to provide for easy storage of the snow blade on its carrier when not in use, the carrier making possible a convenient positioning of the blade in an out-of-the-way place.
The ease of removal from a truck and the ease of replacement thereon of a plow using the system hereof makes it practical to drive a truck on most winter days without the plow attached for greater driving safely.
In the prior art trucks have been often driven with snow plows on them at times when there is no snow, because of the inconvenience of snowplow removal and re-mounting.
Plows stick out in front of a pick-up truck making driving in traffic hazardous as they average seven and a half feet in width dangerously wider than a truck.
As an average plow weighs about 600 lbs. and this weight is "way out" in front of the truck, the leverage factor this creates makes it all feel to the driver that the plow might break loose and accidentally fall.
In the prior art the sighting devices have been mounted on snow plow frames so that an operator of a truck can determine better the position of the snow plow. But because the alignment apertures are hidden by the hood of the truck, and because even one-half inch or one-fourth inch misalignment makes it necessary to maneuver the truck all over again, such devices have been of little help.
The present solution is to provide a carrier on which the plow can be maneuvered while the truck remains stationary, the carrier having an elevational system for elevating or lowering the rearward end of the plow frame to achieve alignment, the system employing a jack.
In the prior art many patents have been concerned with facilitating the attachment of a plow to a truck, but to my knowledge, none of them have utilized the principle of providing a wheeled carrier under a plow, making it possible to move the plow to the truck, in which case, a single operator's eye can sight the alignment.
Always before the single operator needed to be in the truck, maneuvering the truck so as to align with the attachments on the plow, in which case, the driver is blinded by the hood of the truck through which he cannot see. The attachments to be aligned are blocked from his view.
After the invention hereof was made, a search uncovered a U.S. Pat. No. 3,715,132, issued Feb. 6, 1973 to D. I. Denny, and titled: LOAD-SUPPORTING CARRIAGE STRUCTURE FOR TRAILERS. This patent shows a house trailer with ground wheels intended for highway operation, but as they are caster wheels, the speeds of highway operation would make it unusual in such a use because caster wheels are often dubbed "crazy wheels", vibrating and swinging excessively at high speed.
The torsion bar system of the patent leads to high cost, and low cost is an objection of the present invention.
It is desired that the present invention have its snow plow able to operate free of the wheel carriage which is only used during mounting, dismounting and storage.